Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Mayor Bloomberg: I AM MORE POWERFUL THAN MARKETS

By, Chris Rossini

We live in a world with scarce resources. And those resources must be allocated in order to satisfy our desires. In the marketplace, each person decides for him/herself how to use their limited resources. The marketplace consists of voluntary trade, the price system to give everyone a picture of supply and demand, and the powerful signals known and profits and losses.

In a world with scarce resources, profits and losses act as a guide on where to apply those resources, and just as importantly, where to remove them from.

Profits tell an entrepreneur "Invest here...this is what people desire."

Losses tell the entrepreneur "Hey buddy, this isn't the Garden of Eden. Your scarce resources are allocated in a place that is not satisfying the most urgent desires of your fellow man. Move them, or lose them."

This is the natural "system" that is constantly pushed to the side. It's always there, waiting in the background for people to wise up, but it's largely scolded, cursed and ignored in our enlightened age.

What is instead championed, and worshiped (literally) by central planning advocates is the man-made authoritarian. In this system, each individual's limited resources are up for grabs to the whim of the authoritarian. Voluntary trade is weakened and forcedexchange is imposed. Prices are artificially manipulated and "controlled" often providing a warped view of supply and demand. And finally, profits and losses don't even fly on the radar.

NYC's Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has become notorious for his authoritarian dictates. Whether it's the amount of salt, fat, or soda that you ingest, or even the styrofoam cup that you're using to drink that soda, you better have the approval of the Mayor first.

The NY Post has a decent piece on Bloomberg's latest commandment, and it has to do with electric vehicles. Let's walk through it:

In his State of the City speech last week, Bloomberg said he wants to
add 10,000 new electric-vehicle charging stations over the next seven
years. To that end, he wants the City Council to amend building codes so
that 20 percent of all new parking spaces must be “wired and ready for
electric vehicles.”

Now, I know that NYC is a huge city, but nevertheless, 10,000 is a lot of charging stations! This isn't a little side-project boondoggle here. It's gonna cost a little more than sending a bunch of bureaucrats fly-fishing in Jackson Hole on the taxpayer's back.

And how did Bloomberg come up with 10,000?

Why not 1,000?

Why not 243?

Without the market, and profit and loss signals, how can he know that this is the way scarce resources need to be allocated?

Answer.....He doesn't and can't know. It all arbitrary.

The NY Post continues:

The history of the electric car is a century of failure tailgating
failure. The problems haven’t changed in 100 years: All-electric
vehicles, or EVs, have little range, take too long to refuel and cost
way too much.

Like flies swarming around a pile of manure, if something is terrible economically, you're sure to find government poking at it. The fact that electric cars have little range, take too long to refuel and cost a ton makes no difference to the authoritarian. It also makes no difference to his army of opinion molders. Economic sense is not part of the equation.

Economics is the lifeblood of markets, of the rational allocation of resources. Sure mistakes are made, and that's what losses are for...to make mistakes known, and to squash them.

Government doesn't worry about such things. If someone needs a loan that they are totally unqualified for and will never pay back, government will loan them the money. If someone has no business whatsoever in owning a house, and should be renting instead, government will put them in that house. If a politically-connected business is a total failure that should be liquidated, government is there to bail them out.

It's taxpayer money...who cares?

Back to the NY Post:

Nissan had high hopes for the electric car. Last year, the automaker —
which got a $1.4 billion line of credit from the US Energy Department to
help it produce EVs — expected to sell 20,000 copies of its
all-electric Leaf. Actual sales totaled just 9,800.

Corporate welfare....$1.4 BILLION down the drain?

It's taxpayer money...who cares?

Now Bloomberg wants to put 10,000 charging stations throughout NYC. How big of a market do you think electric vehicles are?

Wait till you read this:

Last year, electric vehicles accounted for just 0.1 percent of total US
car sales of 14.5 million.

Onetenth of 1% !!!

Try to get into any private entrepreneur's office with these numbers and Bloomberg's proposals and you won't even get past the secretary's desk!

By pushing for more electric cars, Mayor Bloomberg is following the same
failed strategies of the Obama administration, which has handed out
$2.4 billion in grants to the EV sector, as well as nearly $2.6 billion
in loans. Despite all that money, the sector has seen nothing but
carnage.

It's taxpayer money...who cares?

Bottom line: Bloomberg wants to force the private sector to build
charging stations for a fleet of cars that don’t exist and probably
won’t exist for years to come, if ever.

I was going to be critical of the people in NYC for continuing to support this clown, but then I remembered that my state of California has given the country the likes of Pelosi, Feinstein and Boxer. Losers, one and all.

when are libertarians going to realize that governments Are part of the market and have been at least since the Sumarians used thier military to protect and procure trade 5000 years ago.Wow, sounds contemparary. If you want to argue government is more harmful than helpfull, great.Bloomburg is there because the majority of busness (as counted by net revenue) wants him there. They bought him and apparenly have been satisfied with thier purchase. Big government exist because there is a market for it.